Earn Money with Google Adsense

On June 18, 2003, Google Inc. introduced the Adsense program to the world, allowing web publishers to earn money with Google Adsense in their sleep. Publishers, webmasters, and bloggers can sign up for the Google Adsense program and display relevant advertisements to their readers in conjunction with Google Adwords, Google’s pay per click revenue model.

Once your Adsense ads upload the Adsense code to your content pages, you generate earnings based on how many clicks your adverts generate. Earnings per click (aka EPC) range from $0.05 to $40, depending on the nature of your niche and advertising demand.

Before Google released the Adsense Program, webmasters spent time & resources forming partnerships with potential advertisers to generate revenue from their sites. Online publishers would search for advertisers, get their contact information, call them up or e-mail them, then explain why a partnership would provide value to both parties.

As you can see, seeking out potential advertisers for your website is a time-consuming process.

Most people lack the marketing expertise and spare time to actively pursue advertisers for their websites. Google Adsense bridged the gap between advertisers and publishers, providing an easy to access and highly usable network of highly respected advertisers like Nike, eBay, Coca-Cola, etc.

Once provided with a third-party advertisement service, online publishers and webmasters gained the following advantages over non-Google Adsense members:

1. Make Money with 100% Automated Monetization Solutions - Using javascript, Google Adsense provides its publishers with a unique javascript code that serves up ads automatically on all content pages. Adsense’s search engine spiders automatically “read” the content on your pages, and display adverts within the context of your content. This translates to a 24/7, 365 automated cash machine that earns residual income in your sleep.
2. Gain Access to Fortune 500 Companies - No matter how large your website, any publisher may gain access to advertisements from some of the largest corporations in the world. Whether you run a personal blog or a high traffic social media network, you can capitalize on the professionalism of the Google Adsense network in no time flat.
3. Spend less time negotiating, More time writing - The greatest benefit is the absence of constantly updating and searching for new advertisements. Adsense is a “set it and forget it” solution, which is why webmasters become so obsessed over its powerful earnings potential.

There is a small learning curve for Google Adsense, and potential publishers should become familiar with the following terms before joining the Adsense program:

• EPC - stands for Earning Per Click, probably the most important acronym in the Adsense language. EPC gauges how much money your advertisements generate per click-through to the respective advertiser’s landing page.
• eCPM - stands for earnings per cost per mile, helps to understand how much money you make per 1,000 page views. Lucrative niches like finance, mortgage loans, and Healthcare generate more revenue than less popular niches like blogging & sports. Competition for high dollar products is stiff; Advertisers will duel it out on Adwords to make sure consumers get their eyeballs on the products & services they have to offer
• CTR - stands for Click Through Rate, just Google’s way of tracking how often web surfers click on your advertisement. If you receive 30 clicks for every 1,000 ad views, your CTR is 3%. It’s important to track your CTR closely, and figure ways to increase Adsense CTR without turning off your visitors/audience.

I won’t explain every single element of the Adsense language because some parts are trivial. If you fully comprehend the 3 acronyms above, you will be ahead of 80% of your competition. So please focus on the basics because truth is always simple.

I know the background info & learning curve stuff seems tedious, but it’s very necessary to maximize your earnings. Now let’s discuss to how generate traffic, then monetize this traffic to make some cold hard cash.

Traffic is the liveblood of Adsense

Daily, consistent web traffic is the only way to make big money with Google Adsense. Without web traffic, you have no visitors, and without visitors, who will click your advertisements?

Don’t encourage friends or family to click your Adsense adverts. It’s illegal, and you’ll get in trouble. So your only other option is to legally attract targeted visitors to your website who find your advertisements as helpful, instead of abusive.

One way to generate traffic is to write high quality content that incorporates high dollar keywords within the content body. Your visitors benefit from your highly informative, well-written articles, plus you benefit from the Adsense earnings received from those articles. It’s a win-win situation, and in my opinion yields the best results.

Please stay away from automated websites or scraped content with Adsense ads embedded within the stolen articles. You don’t want to travel down that road. So stick to the basics, pump out high quality content, target high paying keywords, and learn about Adsense unit optimization.

Along with high quality content comes Search Engine Optimization, aka SEO, because search engines drive more traffic than paid or referral-based models. Always place your most important keyword in the title of your web page, and sprinkle other important keywords within your content body. SEO is a skill that takes time to grasp.

If you want to pick up SEO basics fast, I recommend purchasing Aaron Wall’s SEObook.

Find High Paying Adsense Keywords

Researching your niche to discover the most lucrative keywords is a surefire way to increase your Adsense earnings quickly. I recommend using Adwords Keyword Tool to find out how much each keyword is worth to an Adwords advertiser. Simply fire up the Google Keyword tool, enter a broad keyword for your niche, then select Cost estimates (CPC) from the drop-down box, and hit enter.

Adwords will display a long list of available for bidding keywords, along with cost estimates listed beside them. Pay attention to which keywords have the highest CPC because these same keywords will make you the most money.

Of course, Google will take their cut, so remember to stay away from low-paying keywords, e.g., 10 cents and below, because they will earn you peanuts.

Doing preliminary niche keyword research will help you avoid low-paying niches as well. It makes no sense to enter a non-lucrative niche and try to make money with Google Adsense. Think high dollar niches like money, retirement, healthcare, consumer products, insurance, etc. Everyone has knowledge in at least 1 high dollar niches because we all consumer products 7 services. Write down a list of niches that you wish to enter, then use the Adwords Keyword tool to identify the most lucrative one, and go from there.

4 Adsense Unit Optimization Tips

Developing content, researching keywords, and driving targeted traffic is only half the battle. Successful Adsense publishers spend time optimizing the actual Adsense unit to generate the highest earnings potential. This is critical if you wish to earn money with Google Adsense online.

While you can browse Adsense resources to pick up tips from other publishers, I will share 4 quick and easy Adsense optimization tips:

1. Use the 336 x 280 Large Adsense rectangle - It’s the highest performing Adsense unit, and is recommended by most high earning publishers. If you decide to place ads on your sidebar, use the 160 x 600 wide skyscraper instead.
2. Blend Your Ads within your content - Web searchers desire content, not obtrusive ads that scream “click me!” Blend your adverts within your content by making your ad link colors the same as your normal web links. Also, try to embed the Adsense unit within content so your ads appear like helpful third-party recommendations. No one will castigate you because you show advertisements on your website. You deserve to earn money for all your hard work, but also respect your visitors and make your Adsense units look as helpful and friendly as possible
3. Utilize Hot Spots & Above the Fold Space - Hot spots are sections where visitor’s eyes spend great amounts of time. General hot spots are: the top left corner of your webpage, right above your content, and directly below your content before comments. Placing your ad units near hot spots should increase your earnings substantially. And when in doubt about ad units, place your ads at the top of your webpages (aka above the fold). Many of your visitors never scroll down the page, so you’re missing out on potential revenue if your advertisements are way at the bottom of your website
4. Test, Test, and Test Some More - Your website and niche is very unique, so test out placements and track results using Adsense channels. What works for Myspace may differ from what works for your website. Once you identify a lucrative space & Ad unit size, play with the colors and layout to further increase your earnings.

Google Adsense is an amazing revenue program, and it has literally changed how people around the world live their lives. There are countless stories of individuals quitting their day jobs to focus on writing because Adsense pays their bills now.

I’m sure Google will roll out more revenue vehicles in the future, but right now Adsense is by far the easiest method to make money online. You don’t need to sell; you don’t need to learn programming; All you need is a bit of knowledge on Adsense optimization and the desire to write great content that people want to read.

I’ve said enough now. If you have any comments or questions, or want to share an Adsense resource with everyone, please leave them below.

Good luck with your Adsense success!

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